The present invention relates to a cookie forming apparatus and particularly to such an apparatus for producing an adjustable, but more uniform, cookie output.
Cookie forming apparatus heretofore employed has included a dough hopper and dough rolls for extruding dough through a die after which the dough is severed into cookie-shaped deposits by a cutoff wire. A conveyor receives the deposits and changes position between cutoff operations for proper cookie spacing. Prior cookie forming apparatus is mechanically designed for substantially intermittent operation such that a predetermined quantity of dough is extruded prior to each cutting operation whereby the thickness of each deposit is substantially constant but not conveniently adjustable. Moreover, when such an apparatus is started in operation, the mechanical movement initiates dough severing operations before sufficient dough has been delivered through the die to form a suitable cookie. Therefore, each startup operation results in waste because of a number of improperly formed cookies which have to be sorted out and discarded.